We study the photon induced $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(1520)$ production in the effective Lagrangian method near threshold, ${E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{\mathrm{LAB}}\ensuremath{\le}2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$, and in the quark-gluon string model at higher energies $3\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}\ensuremath{\le}{E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{\mathrm{LAB}}\ensuremath{\le}5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. In particular, we study the role of the ${K}^{*}$ exchange for the production of $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(1520)$ within the SU(6) Weinberg-Tomozowa chiral unitary model proposed by Garc\'{\i}a-Recio, Nieves, and Salcedo [Phys. Rev. D 74, 034025 (2006)]. The coupling of the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(1520)$ resonance to the $N{\overline{K}}^{*}$ pair, which is dynamically generated, turns out to be relatively small and, thus, the $K$ exchange mechanism dominates the reaction. In the higher energy region, where experimental data are available, the quark-gluon string mechanism with the $K$ Regge trajectory reproduces both the energy and the angular distribution dependences of the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}(1520)$ photoproduction reaction.